All you have to do is spend at least a certain amount at checkout and Amazon will cover the cost of shipping. A lot of online retailers do this, but Amazon was notable because its minimum was surprisingly low at $35.

Unfortunately, Amazon raised that minimum purchase limit from $35 to $49 without so much as an announcement or an email. That’s just under a 50% increase, which is definitely a wet blanket for anyone who relied on this feature for free shipping on Amazon.

There are a lot of reasons why Amazon might’ve done this, but no one can deny that this makes Amazon Prime seem like a better deal now. After all, Prime is only $99 for an entire 12 months — and you get free shipping on any Prime item no matter how little you spend.

How often did you use the non-Prime free shipping limit? With this change, are you more likely to pick up a Prime subscription? Or will you just shop less often at Amazon? Tell us in the comments below!

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Anonymous

February 26, 2016 at 1:56 am

I'm not sure if this will pay off for Amazon. I've always ordered $35+ at a time to get free shipping. I can always find something I can use to make up the difference if need be, and spending $35 doesn't seem to bad. However, if I really wanted a $20 item to start with, I might balk at finding another $29 of stuff to get free shipping. I'll just get my friend who has Prime to order what I want, and not bother to find extra items to make up the difference.

Even at nearly $100 annually, Prime membership is still the best money I spend in a year. We have at least two or three shipments a month from Amazon, so the amount we save on shipping more than pays for the Prime membership, and I look at the streaming video and music as bonuses. Of course everyone doesn't order things as frequently as we do.

Amazon has the right to raise their free shipping minimum to whatever number they choose, and customers have the right to shop with another retailer. In the end, most people will complain but do nothing else. That's what Amazon is counting on. They don't care how much people complain, but actually shopping elsewhere (and letting Amazon know about it) might get their attention. People are notorious for complaining about things, making threats, but failing to follow through. People were swearing to leave Netflix in droves a few years ago over a price increase, but there was no bite to go with the bark. Netflix weathered a few days of bad publicity and is now more popular than ever.

Action is what any business understands. Earlier this year, The Premier League's Liverpool club announced a ticket price increase set for next season. Fans protested and staged a walk out numbering in the thousands during the closing minutes of a match against Sunderland. It was quickly announced that there will be no ticket price increase next season.

Usually, you can buy the item you want from a secondary vendor on the list. They usually charge shipping, but they're selling price by the amount of the shipping is less than Amazon's; thus the net effect is "free shipping".

I'm sure this has a lot to do with the rising popularity of Prime. They want to recoup some of their lost profits because of the Prime shipping discounts. Yes, yes, YES Amazon is a for-profit business, but the lack of give-a-diddle for the customer by not even sending out a peremptory notice is a loser move. Sounds like they feel like they have a captive audience who has nowhere else to turn...

I remember when the very same thing happened the last time...what?...a couple years ago? Free shipping went from $25 minimum to $35 literally from one order of mine to the very next one. They got me on that one...and it took me a while to get over the grrrrrrrr feeling.

I keep several wish lists of different categories of small filler items so that I can buffer up to the minimum, but this is getting ridiculous. E-Bay is loving Amazon though, I suppose, because if others are like me, there will be a lot more customers on their site. My patronage on E-Bay had already increased because of the previous low blow.

The requirement (not quite a "limit") USED to be $25, then it went to $35.
The first thing I did was contact Customer Service and told them I wasn't pleased with the change this time, and let them know there were other stores (particularly eBay) where I could get free shipping on most of the items on my Wish List. The customer service rep let me know they would take customers' complaints seriously! If a LOT of Amazon customers did this, they MIGHT take notice...

I don't mind Amazon raising the limt, but I would've liked a notice before they did it. I'll probably NOT go to a Prime account and I'll wait to see how long I have to wait before I go with a non-free shipping. Seems like Amazon is just passing the cost over to the consumer...